Bro, I'm not an Undead!

A Luminant?

Why did this word sound familiar?

Darwel's announcing of it made it seem so grand but the foggiest idea of how Skullius remembered this word had a portion of dread, satisfaction and relief that subconsciously rose in his mind with its mentioning.

What was a Luminant?

Where had he heard this name before?

Beside him, the two guards were also surprised to hear what Darwel had just said!

They shuddered violently at this ridiculous prospect as it far out scaled what they had initially imagined.

An El-Sif?!

No!

This man was beyond royalty!

But... his wing..?

"Your blood is purer than mine. I can sense it for sure. Perhaps this wing of yours... it has to be limited because of the taint I feel in your blood, limiting its full potential. Something other than just human blood dwells in you. Did you know?" Darwel asked with genuine concern, her glitter covered hand gently caressing Skullius' shoulder.

The gleam in her eyes did not present a feeling of romance. It postulated a kind of dependence, humility and care.

This made Skullius feel strange inside.

His soul quivered ever so slightly.

"No. I don't think so," he answered her question as he restored his thoughts to the conversation .

Obviously, this was a lie.

Because he had been a Discount Human before, and then turned into a Hybrid Luman, Skullius had a sort of mix in his blood.

The human blood, the Luman blood and the undefined possession of death from Demion's Dance that included itself when his new body was forged, giving him the <CURSED BLOOD> and <CURSED HEART>.

Of course, he wasn't going to blab about it to Darwel. Not just because of trust issues but because he felt that it could compromise the somewhat safe situation he had managed to unintentionally create for himself.

Darwel nodded, her concern still apparent.

"I see," she said, her eyes still fixed steadily on Skullius.

"If I may. Can you expand more on this Luminant stuff? You said something about me being the last of what?" Skullius asked, heavily invested in getting to the bottom of this as soon as possible.

He knew that he wasn't a stranger to this Luminant business because of this gnawing feeling that he had.

If he could get a glimpse into what this word meant...

If he get more clues...

Darwel chuckled.

Her Wings of Embrace vanished, as did the graceful beauty of glitter around her.

"Pardon me," she said as she swept her dress while taking a seat. "I underestimated how strange this must be for you. I quickly confirmed this without taking your reaction into account."

'Well that's about right,' Skullius thought.

She just speed ran over the process, leaving the poor Hybrid Luman behind.

All that for a grand reveal!

"Tens of millennia ago, when the wrath of the Immoral was still fresh on Aigas, a group of people came to settle in our lands. Their sudden emergence and origin largely remains unknown even now but my ancestors believed them to not be from this world. I believe this too."

"They were special people and few in number. They looked human but had pairs of white wings growing from their backs and unimaginable powers, even in their infancy. They came to us in grief, asking for shelter and my ancestors were kind enough to give it. By doing so, we attained the favour and thanks of these people who later changed our community for the better."

'Pairs of white wings...' Skullius thought.

Ba-dum!

Ba-dum!

His heart beat madly.

"At first we could not communicate with these people but as time went on, we began to understand each other. They called themselves the Luminants. Each of them had unique powers, all detached from the mana system that we use and they shared them with our community."

"As the years passed, the Luminants found lovers among the Sif and we did too among them, further cementing our relations. Unfortunately, it was difficult for children born from our union to endure for more than a few minutes. It was a heavy burden for those that loved each other. The gene of the Luminants was too powerful and if a child was not nourished by a Luminant womb for a full year... Ahem. It's clear what would happen."

"But hope was not lost. There were still few that managed to survive and grow with the mixed blood of Sif and Luminant. We called them the El-Sif, El, in our language meaning Light."

Darwel had a proud look on her face as she told of this history.

The El-Sif were born after many months of strenuous care and attention was given to the one pregnant with them. They were praised as being tenacious enough to live through the imbalance within their bodies.

When they matured, they naturally embodied the very culture of the Sif that was taught to them by the Giants.

Their embrace of the Deitess who bore them.

Listafelle.

With the raw waters of Aigas, came life.

Plant life. Animal life. Human life.

As the Sif had praised nature religiously before, the birth of the El-Sif cemented their belief.

These children had a natural affinity with nature and the mana around them to a terrifying degree, shocking both Luminants and Sif alike.

Such beings...

They could only be named royalty!

While the Luminants were regarded as purer beings in Opungale, the El-Sif were seen fit to rule it.

Skullius gaped.

He was sweating.

He had remembered.

'Everything just has to be linked to that damned Labyrinth, doesn't it?!' he growled at himself from within while covering his face.

This was unreal!

Outside his thoughts, Darwel continued on.

"It took a while but El-Sif eventually created the monarchy of Opungale. It was easy to achieve and accept after the last of the few Luminants passed on, leaving only the small number of El-Sif birthed in their time," Darwel finished off by saying.

Skullius emitted a breath.

'Dezrael.'

It was Dezrael.

The winged being who had been yoked within the Labyrinth of the Yoke.

This was how Skullius knew the word Luminant!

Dezrael was an Arch-Luminant and by killing him, Skullius had gotten the Luminant Seed.

Recognising the word through the object he had used several days ago hadn't made sense to Skullius since Darwel was clearing referring to a living being.

Luminant Seed hadn't come to mind given the context.

Now it all made sense!

This story checked out with what Dezrael had told him back then, a story about how he had fought with Fulgardt but lost. In the end, he had asked for his people to be spared in exchange for him giving himself up, the context to this being that Fulgardt wanted something from this race.

Sadly, Fulgardt had only spared a few, some of which he used for his twisted whims while flinging the rest somewhere on Aigas.

It turned out that the place he threw them was Opungale!

(A/N: Refer to Ch.67).

Skullius sighed.

So that deal struck with Fulgardt was what made this history of the Sif?

If Darwel were to ever know that he had actually killed the man who brought what could possibly had been the remains of his race...

He didn't know what Darwel would think.

Wait. He did actually.

"I hope this isn't too much for you to digest," Darwel said with another soft grip at Skullius' shoulder.

The Hybrid Luman smiled wryly.

Sure. Sure.

"Not exactly. It's just that... from what you said, I should just be an El-Sif, right? I don't have a pair of white wings growing from my back," he said.

This was a genuine question.

He looked nothing like Dezrael at all. The guy had real wings.

So how could he be called a Luminant?

Even his guidance field split him down the middle with the name of his race.

"I can see why you may think that. Even Viccil and Sevill thought the same," Darwel said with a sweet smile. "I am an El-Sif, so I can sense the finer details within you. Your blood. It is wildly more powerful than mine. Furthermore, when you used your Wing of Embrace, I felt your strength rise fivefold. No El-Sif has that kind of power. My strength only increases two-fold."

Oh.

Skullius wondered.

Two-fold was the norm?

"If that is too little to go off of then there's something else we can use to verify," Darwel said as she pulled on Skullius' hand, making him stand.

"I was itching to ask and see this for myself. I've only ever heard of it in books."

"Hmmm?"

"Your connection to Luserus. Even if you didn't know your identity till now. Surely, you have it, don't you? It's a racial ability that all Luminants had. Depending on their gender, it was either Daughter of Luserus or Son of Luserus," Darwel said, her eyes cunningly keen.

...!

'As a matter of fact...' Skullius thought as he checked his guidance field.

He did have that skill!